16 December 1985 Income Tax Severed Letter

Please note that the following document, although believed to be correct at the time of issue, may not represent the current position of the CRA.
Prenez note que ce document, bien qu'exact au moment émis, peut ne pas représenter la position actuelle de l'ARC.

December 16, 1985

K.B. Harding

XXXX

This is in reply to your letter of November 14, 1985, concerning the exchange of information between Canada and the United States.

You have questioned whether or not information, pertaining to residents of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam or any other United States possession or territory, which do not fall under the definition of the United States, is transmitted to the United States.

We have reviewed the procedures of this Department concerning the exchange of information between Canada and the United States pursuant to Article XXVII of the Canada-United States Income Tax Convention. Our instructions indicate that the only information to be transmitted to the United States are those information slips which are addressed to one of the fifty states of the United States of America. Accordingly, slips addressed to residents of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam and other United States possessions or territories should not be sent to the U.S. government.

You also questioned whether it was possible for information relating to addresses not covered by the Canada-United States Income Tax Convention could have inadvertently been sent to the U.S. government. Since the sorting of information slips is done manually, it is always possible through human error that slips could be misdirected to the wrong governments. We have already reviewed our procedures with the view of ensuring that information slips not addressed to one of the fifty states will not be misdirected to U.S. authorities.

We trust that this is adequate for your purposes.

Yours sincerely,

Original Signed by

Acting Director Provincial and International Relations Division